Hamato or Oroku? 9: Sons of the Silent Age
by TMNT Loving Leo the Second
Summary: Summary goes here. 9th installment in the Hamato or Oroku? series! Hope you like! 2003'verse, rated T for safety.
1. Camping

_LATE. VERY VERY LATE. I'm considering going on a mini-hiatus for this series. :/ I need a major break and more time for my other stuff that's more popular. I wouldn't be abandoning it, I swear. Just... Getting a little break.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯_

* * *

 _"I love nature. Its beauty, its balance and perfection. Nature reminds me of what I learned in school about the scientist Charles Darwin. Darwin believed in the survival of the fittest. He explained how life on Earth could be defined simply as the struggle for existence. But, it seems to me that the struggle for existence is never very simple."_

 _-April O'Neil_

"What are we still hangin' around here for?! Da sun's about to set!" Casey exclaimed unhappily. He was hanging from a bridge support, looking at Leo to make a decision, but the blue-clad turtle was glaring down at the water hatefully, as if it had bit him. "Let's raft down da riva like we said we was gonna; get this campin' trip in gear!"

The blue-haired man flipped off the support and landed behind Leo, then walked towards him. "Yo, Leo, whaddaya say? What's goin' down, bro?"

Leo looked at the human with still-angry eyes. "The river," he said sarcastically in a nasty voice.

Casey stepped back a few steps, then ran to hide behind Raphael as Raph glared at his elder brother.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen! And Leonardo!" Mikey exclaimed from the raft he'd helped Don make (or, as Don would put it, talked to him the whole time as Don worked). Leo glared down at his brother. "This is the first and final call for the USS Turtle-rific, the most happenin' party cruise this side of, um… Casey's grandma's farmhouse! Tickets, please! Tickets!"

He yelped as a ninja star landed next to his foot, nearly skimming him. He looked up and saw Leo glaring down at him.

"Oh, I got yer ticket right here!" Raph exclaimed, ignoring his elder brother's attitude for the moment as he cannonballed into the water, making a humongous splash. Mikey gasped as the force of the water pushed him over a sleeping bag and onto his shell. His two immediate older brothers and Casey laughed at his disdain.

* * *

The odd family (minus Splinter, who was at the farmhouse still) all rode on the raft well past sundown. Leo was on the back, glaring with his feet in the cold water despite his still-weak immune system from A) being a turtle, B) getting severely injured, and C) just having a weak immune system. Don was fiddling with a device, Raph and Mikey were just sitting, April had her knees drawn up, and Casey was steering.

"The river is so perfect…" April smiled. "Flowing just as it has for tens of thousands of years. Ancient, mysterious, alive!" she breathed in awe.

"Gee, April," Mikey grinned, "you make it sound almost… spooky!"

Just as he said that, an owl 'hoo'ed.

"Wh-What was that?" April asked shakily, then yelped as the owl nearly swooped down on them, making them all duck.

Casey chuckled. "It's just a barn owl! Nothin' ta be scared-a!"

April smiled again as she whispered to Donatello, "Sometimes… sometimes Casey can be so cool…! Like now: focused and grown-up... Mature, even!"

Casey belched.

"You were saying?" Don asked with disdain as Raph chuckled.

* * *

About an hour later, it was somehow even darker. Don was fiddling with chemicals, now, April was sleeping, Raph was fishing, Mikey was using a flashlight to read a comic, and Leo…

He was still glaring hatefully at the water, not having even moved as millions of thoughts raced in his head. He didn't notice the form swimming under the water.

April groaned and awakened, and immediately gasped. "Oh, my gosh," she said, looking at the old nuclear power plant. "I didn't know we were so close to one of those."

"I saw in da local news dey're closin' it down," Casey said.

"Finally. Someone's come to their senses," April breathed.

"Ah, yes, the nuclear power plants. Once heralded as the future of energy, but they've become the Purple Dragons of energy production!" Don explained scientifically, not noticing Leo flinch at the name, "Hard to clean up after, and even harder to get rid of! But it looks like those cooling towers have already been rigged for demolition, so this is one nuclear plant no one has to worry about anymore. Any questions, class?" he then joked lightly. Raph cracked a smile as Casey chuckled.

Underneath them, though, none of them noticed the fins attached to unnaturally large bodies, at least for fish.

Leo continued to stare into the water, hardly noticing when Casey called him. "Yo, Leo, help me out, here!" the man requested. "Up ahead on the left. Is that the turn to Oxburn lake that Masta Splinta told us about?"

"Hm?" Leo asked, turning back without interest with a hard look on his face, making everyone lean back a bit. "Yeah, I think that's the way to Norwanacagi (did I spell that right? XD)," he dismissed as he turned back the river.

"Norwana-whaty?" Mikey asked.

"Norwanacagi. It's what the Indians that used to live here called the lake," Don explained as the fins made themselves known above water once more. "It means, 'Lake of the Lost Tribe'."

* * *

 _*purses lips* IT'S NOT MY FUCKING FAULT THIS IS SO SHORT, IT'S THE EP'S! :( PLEASE REVIEW! BYE!_

 _Shadow_


	2. Fishsticks

_LATE FUCKING DEAL WITH IT DX_

* * *

"Oh yeah? Well I got one for ya! How come Utroms are always lonely?" Casey asked Don, Mike, Raph, and April around the campfire they'd made.

'Because they thought that they could steal someone at birth and raise them to fight their real family.'

"Beats me," Raph relented after a second.

"They ain't got 'no body'! Get it? 'No body? Ha!"

Leo sighed as he listened to his brothers and friends from where he stood by the water.

"Hey I got one for ya, Case!" Mike smiled. "How do you measure an Utrom?"

Casey stared at him, bewildered, as his brothers giggled, having heard this one multiple times.

"In inches!"

Casey's stare turned more confused. "Huh?"

"In inches! They don't have feet!" Mikey exclaimed with a laugh, enjoying his brothers' and friends' laughter.

April's laughter died down and she looked to the side, where Leo stood, back to her. She frowned and stood up, walking towards him. He sensed her presence and sighed, not in the mood to talk.

"Are… Are you OK, Leo? I know something's been bothering you," April said softly.

Leo looked away. "Yeah.. I don't know…" he sighed. April always had this way of making him open up… "I mean, I guess I do. I just can't stop thinking about the last time we faced the Shredder!" he said a bit louder, but not so the guys could hear. He clenched his fists and his eyes narrowed as he continued to speak. "The only way we could've defeated him was to blow ourselves up! I couldn't protect my brothers… My master… I feel like such a complete failure!" He punched his hand as April's confused expression turned to one of sadness. "Now matter how I try to _rationalize_ it - _justify_ it - it just keeps coming back to the fact that I wasn't good enough! Strong enough! I was too distracted in my own hate and revenge that I almost forgot what the whole damn mission was about!"

He breathed out angrily, ashamed to have spilled all that, when his eyes suddenly widened. "April, look!"

A green head with a fin on top started to rise out of the water. It came up higher, revealing a feminine body with many marks and scars, fins under her arms, as well. Leo's eyes immediately narrowed as he snarled, expecting a threat. She walked towards them.

"Um, guys?" April called to the others, who finally looked up and noticed it. The creature stepped on the grass, leaving footprints as the guys stood up from the campfire hesitantly. "We… have company…"

The creature walked a few more steps towards them, and then collapsed to her knees and fell to the ground.

Everyone hesitantly approached her. "And… she's hurt," April said.

Don turned backwards to his little brother. "Mikey, quick - in my backpack; get me the first-aid kit and my tech pad.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Mikey smirked, before sobering and running towards the tent.

"Somebody help me turn her over!" April ordered, and Leo came over and did so carefully, but only because April has said so. He trusted April's judgement completely, so if she didn't think the creature was a threat, then it wasn't.

"So, what is she? Some kinda fish?" Raph asked hesitantly.

"She doesn't have gills," April replied, putting her head to its chest, "and she stopped breathing. And her heart; I can't find a pulse!"

Don scanned the creature with his tech tab. "According to this, these marks are burns. _Radiation_ burns! She's been exposed to a massive dose of radiation!"

"Casey! Help me out here!" April commanded as Casey came over quickly. "I'll check that her throat is clear, and begin the mouth-to-mouth."

Mikey looked worriedly at the water. "Um, guys, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are more fish people, and they are NOT looking happy!" he announced worriedly as more fish people, all males, emerged from the water. One of them let out a low, throaty growl.

"They must think we're hurting her! Keep them away! We need more time!" April exclaimed.

Leo snarled animalistically, his sanity leaving him for a quick second as he unsheathed his katana threateningly and sliced at one of the creatures. He knocked it on its back, but it kicked him into the water, another one following him in.

"Leo!" Raph called, growling and barrelling into another fish-man, sending them both into the water, as well.

They subdued Don and Mike quickly, tripping one and knocking the other in the head, making the genius groan and lose focus long enough for them to get a good enough hold of him to get him into the water.

"April! Them walkin' fishsticks! They got the guys!" Casey exclaimed as the fishmen dragged Mike and Don into the water.

* * *

 _WHATEVER I'M LATE I'VE BEEN DISTRACTED LATELY. PLZ REVIEW! BYE!_

 _Shadow_


	3. Eggs

_:/_

* * *

"It's no good, April!" Casey exclaimed. "Da fish-lady's not respondin'! And what about the guys!?" he demanded, looking back at the water. I'm pretty sure they can only hold their breath for a few minutes…! What do we do?"

April was staring forward at nothing.

"April! Snap outta it!"

April started talking, words that obviously weren't her own.

 ** _(AGAIN, SKIPPING THE FLASHBACK BECAUSE IT DOESN'T HELP THE PLOTLINE OF THIS ANY. April is drawn into a trance by the Merwoman and sees the entire history of her species. This Merwoman is the last female of her kind, the four others are the last males. She telepathically explains to April how her people are very long-lived - indeed, she was a child back when the Mermen were slaves of the Y'Lyntians. Eventually, there was a revolt and the Y'Lyntian island sank, freeing the Mermen. The fish people spent many wonderful years living off the land, but over time, human society populated the planet, leaving little room for the fish people and thus they have been slowly dying off. The Merwoman also explains how she has been left on her own to tend the last eggs of her species, an arduous task which leaves her exhausted. Unfortunately, she fell asleep on the shore by the nuclear power plant and suffered radiation poisoning. GOT THIS FROM WIKI)_**

April's awareness returned to her, she realized that Casey was still talking. "April! April! _APRIL_! Snap outta it! April! We gotta do somethin' here!"

Meanwhile, underwater, the turtles were getting their shells kicked.

Raph growled. _'I've had enough'a dis!'_ he thought, slamming his opponent into the ground and swimming away to his other brothers.

He saw Leo facing off with a creature and growled again, looking back at the creature he'd fought, who was approaching him.

Leo growled at the creature, slicing at it with his katana. The creature looked backwards, then grabbed a tire that was in the ground and flung it towards the turtle. Leo cut through it.

The creature looked at the two broken pieces of tire in his hand and growled once more, then yelped as he was crashed into by one of his own. Leo growled at Raph, who had flung the creature. Raph gave him a 'what?' look.

Don went over to Mikey, who was tied up in front of a creature, who looked about ready to choke him. Don threw the creature away and Leo came over to slice open the seaweed he'd been tied up with, glaring at him briefly for recklessness.

* * *

The creature reached up and grabbed April's face, bringing her back under once more.

 ** _(ONCE MORE, TOO LAZY. AND NEED TO UPDATE THIS FAST. The eggs are in the path of the toxic waste leaking from the power plant - if something isn't done, the eggs will be destroyed, and the Mermen will become extinct.)_ **

The Merwoman fell backwards slowly, her hands going limp as she stared at the night sky with unseeing eyes.

Casey put an arm around his girlfriend, who snapped out of her trance. "Hey, you OK? Ya went all freaky on me."

April looked at him. "My mind's spinning. She showed me so much - it's too much to take in."

The turtles swam toward the surface, only a few feet away from relieving their tired lungs… Until they were surrounded by the mermen once more.

April desperately felt for a pulse in the merwoman, but could find none. She sighed, looking at Casey, then at the ground with a sad expression. She'd seen death before; being close friends with the turtles and sometimes even going on patrol with them, she'd seen it plenty of times.

But she… She had some sort of connection with this creature… she didn't know how, but… She was deeply concerned that they may not get to those eggs, either.

Casey placed a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder.

Leo looked ready to tear this creature apart, eyes narrowed and any sort of thought starting to leave him.

The creature lost its snarl, and then swam upwards towards precious air. The turtles watched in amazement as the creatures swam to the surface of the lake, then shrugged at each other and followed.

The creatures approached the two humans and the merwoman cautiously. The turtles came up, breathing heavily and coughing as they went over.

April and Casey backed away from the merwoman as the others of her kind approached her. One went closer than the others and gently reached down, closing her eyes in a quick, swift movement. All 4 then carried her into the water gently, letting her float away a few feet and then sink into the water.

After a few seconds, when they'd gone, Leo turned to Raphael. "What the hell was that?!"

"What're ya talkin' about?!" Raph immediately shoot back. "I saved yer ass!"

"I had it under control, Raphael!"

Raph growled, hating the use of his full name in that tone. "No, ya didn't! If I hadn't gotten rid'a dat creature, you'd be turtle soup!"

As the two turtles argued, and eventually started to draw their weapons and Don and Mike tried to break them up, April gasped, turning to Casey. "Wait. Her burns. Radioactive burns from the nuclear power plant! The eggs… Casey, she was trying to save the eggs!"

"Um… What eggs?"

"Her eggs! Her babies! The nuclear power plant; it's leaking radioactive fuel, right where the merwoman laid her last eggs!" April gestured towards the massive plant in the distance. Raph and Leo, both in headlocks, looked over at her, then to the plant, as Don and Mikey sighed in relief and backed away, knowing that this would probably calm the two.

"Don't ask me how I know, but I know, and we've got to try and save them!"


	4. Finish

_I obviously changed some of it. xD Can you guess?_

* * *

A few bats flew overhead as the group floated to the nuclear power plant.

"I don't know, guys," Mike said as they reached shore, "we've been to some pretty nasty-ass places being Ninja Turtles and all, but this place really gives me the creeps!"

"What do you think, April? Is dis it?" Raph asked.

"I can't tell. Some of this area looks familiar from the vision, but it's hard to be sure," April said, standing in front of all of them.

"According to my readings, the workers have safely contained and cleaned up the area inside and immediately around the nuclear reactor…" Don said, his tech goggles on.

"Lemme guess, dis is one'a dem 'good-news-bad-news' scenarios, right?" Raph said, unamused.

"Unfortunately, yes," Don responded, causing Leo to facepalm, "It looks like they've neglected to clean up anything else beyond the plant itself! Especially over this way," he said, walking toward the creek with the others in tow. Green ooze was flowing through it. "This creek's water is completely contaminated. The nuclear rod cooling pool is leaking into the creek! And, worse-"

"I hate it when there's a worse!" Mikey moaned.

"-that dike over there? It's about to burst."

April gasped, and in her mind's eye, she saw it bursting, and the babies trying to swim away futilely from the chemicals, only to be caught and killed. "Th-That's it! The river! That's where the merwoman's eggs are buried! I'm sure of it; this is what she wanted me to see! This is what she showed me in the vision. We have to do something to save those eggs! If the eggs hatch and the babies swim through that leaking radiation, they'll all perish!"

"Then what're we waitin' for?" Raph asked, spinning his sais.

"We need a plan. But with all this radiation around, we need a safe plan," April said.

Leo rolled his eyes. _'Who cares about a plan? We just need to save those stupid babies and get back to the farmhouse.'_

"What do you think, Donnie?" April asked.

"When they take down cooling towers, they're rigged to blow up and implode inwards. We might be able to re-rig one of these so it falls outwards and creates a new barrier; one that'll block the leaking dike," Don said.

"Yo, what about the radiation?" Casey asked.

"The cooling towers themselves aren't radioactive. We won't need biosuits or anything," Don explained.

"Then the first thing we have to do is sneak in there," Raph said.

"Yeah. And like the Three Musketeers said, 'One for all, and all for ninja mode!' 'Course, I'm paraphrasing."

Leo came up and smacked his brother in the head.

"OW!"

"What is wrong with you?" Raph demanded of his youngest brother, ignoring Leo, who rolled his eyes.

"What?" Mike asked.

* * *

Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Casey climbed the fence into the plant, silently running towards something.

Don climbed his own fence, running towards a trash can to hide. There was a raccoon eating a banana peel out of it. "Boo," he said quietly, and it ran away. He took out his Shell Cell. "OK, April, I'm about there. Another 30 seconds and I'll be in position."

April, from a tree outside the plant, nodded. "Roger. I'll signal the others."

Mike and the others went behind a building, and Mike immediately picked up his Shell Cell as he stood in front of door that said 'ALARM WILL SOUND IF DOOR IS OPENED'. "Who's your daddy?" he asked as he opened the cell.

"Donnie's in position."

Raph put his sai up to the door. "Can you say diversion?" he asked, scratching it with the tip, making a loud alarm go off.

The men in biosuits all looked around, panicked as the alarm went off.

"Security breach!"

"Everybody fan out!"

In the confusion, Donnie snuck through a sliding door. He looked around, then ran towards a control panel. He opened it. "Hmm… little creative rewiring, and we should have ourselves a new dam in about 60 seconds!" He did everything he needed and pressed a button.

He ran out and, not looking where he was going as he took out his Shell Cell, slipped on the raccoon's banana peel, dropping the cell. He looked up, and a man in a biosuit looked down at him. "Whoa! What the bloody hell are you?!" he asked.

Don gulped standing up. "Um, just a little guy in a three-piece costume?"

The man swung at him, but Don dodged, jumping backwards in a crouch.

"Three-piece, huh? That's all I needed to hear!" the man exclaimed, going to lunge again, only to get whacked with in the wrist and shoulder with a stick.

"Listen, big guy! We don't have time for this! Please accept my apology!" Don yelled, ever the gentle one.

"Apology? Frow what?"

Don smirked. "For this." He knocked the man over.

Outside the plant, April had her Shell Cell out, trying to cal Don. "Donatello? Donatello, can you hear me?" She sighed, closing the cell as she looked at Casey. "He's still not answering."

Leo looked into the plant with a hard yet worried stare. "Come on, Donatello…" he muttered softly.

Don, from the plant, which was 10 seconds from blowing up, was trying to lift up the man, who he'd knocked out. "Why did you… have to be… so BIG?!" he ground out, taking a few steps before collapsing from the weight. He looked up as a shadow loomed over him.

Leo glared down at him. "Come on, let's go! You can't get him, we have to leave!"

"B-But…!" Don started, but Leo yanked him out from under the man and pulled him, despite Don's protests.

3…

Don tried to pull against Leonardo, but Leo was relentless.

2…

They jumped the fence…

1…

The tower blew.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Mikey yelled as they all ran away, Don with a glare at Leo, who didn't react.

The tower swayed and collapsed into the creek, making a new dam.

"C'mon, guys!" April exclaimed, seeing a car approaching, and they all ran from the scene.

The car stopped and a health worked (I think) stepped out. "Well, this ain't a good way to start the day." He went to the water and scanned it. "Whoa. Whoever this environmental dogooder was, they did us a favor," he muttered to himself. "This whole place is contaminated. I need to get a crew here right now. Whoever tipped this tower saved a lot of lives. A whole lot of lives!" He walked away, fuming at how no one had noticed how contaminated this place was before.

* * *

On the raft, Raphael was holding Leo and and Casey was holding Don back in a brutal argument.

"We could've saved him, Leo!" Don yelled at his brother, trying to break Casey's hold.

"No, Don! We couldn't! Why can't you accept that?!" Leo ground back, his nails digging into Raph's restraining arms, making the red-clad turtle ground his teeth in pain. He knew Leo wanted to break his hold; he couldn't let go for fear of his genius brother's well-being.

"We could've done a fireman's carry! We could've at least gotten him to the bank, further from the explosion! But NO! You and your lack of any sort of emotion other than ANGER got him killed and now I have another one on my list!" Don yelled, tears streaming freely down his face. He didn't want to cry in front of his brother right now, but he couldn't help it. Unlike Leonardo, who, as he'd been raised by the Shredder himself, had killed as a norm, he didn't like having anyone's blood on his hands. He didn't like the thought of taking lives when they could go on longer and prosper.

"I saved your damn life! You. Would. Not. Have. Gotten. Out. of. THERE," Leo said loudly, although he was obviously trying to calm himself.

Mikey and April glanced at each other worriedly. This was getting pretty bad.

Don sighed in defeat, face a bit red in anger still. "You know what? Fine! You win. I don't care anymore." He broke from Casey's hold easily and plopped on the ground, going to one of his experiments.

The others, save for Leo, who was still trying to get over what had just happened, sent confused glances at each other. Don looked up at them, eyes red but tears gone, and smiled a bit. "Hey, April… Do you think we actually did some good back there? Do you think we really saved the last of the merpeople?"

April sighed a bit, sitting down as Casey took control of the raft towards their camping spot. "I don't know, Donnie. I don't think we'll ever know."

Even as she sad this, by the plant, about 5 eggs hatched, and little baby mercreatures came out. They looked at each other, then swam towards the open water.

* * *

 _Done! :D :D :D FINALLY! Please review! BYE!_

 _Shadow_


	5. AUTHOR'S NOTE

_Guys, I'm gonna take a break on this series for a bit, probably no longer than a few updates of my other stories. (although that may take FOREVER so I don't know :/ ) I promise I'm not abandoning it. :)_


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